Portuguese police believe Madeleine McCann's body was dumped at sea from a British-owned yacht, according to newspaper reports.

This latest theory contends that the body of four-year-old Madeleine was thrown into the ocean in a weighted sack, The Sun reported today.

This would mean the body was unlikely to be recovered and severely hamper any case against Madeleine's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, the paper said.


Portuguese police have formally named the McCanns as suspects and want to question them again over their daughter's disappearance.

Reports circulated in the past two days that toxic levels of sedatives had been found in bodily fluids belonging to Madeleine.

The fluids, along with a quantity of hair, were reportedly recovered from a car hired by the McCanns.

But British experts have cast doubts on the veracity of this evidence.

Gerry McCann has meanwhile granted an interview to the News of the World, in which he tells the newspaper that he and his wife are "fighting for (their) lives".

"It's such a vulnerable position. It's appalling. We've never had to say it until now, but we did not kill our daughter. I never believed it would come to this," Mr McCann said.

"But when the paranoia sinks in, you're under severe pressure and things are going down a certain line, then it does look bad."

Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment at the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz on May 3 this year. Her parents said they were eating at a restaurant about 100m away at the time of her disappearance.